‘There was no baby and she got off scot-free' — couple duped by fraudster in surrogacy ordeal
Victims believed they had 'won the lottery' when Cookes offered to help them on their journey to parenthood
The first victims of convicted serial fraudster Samantha Cookes have spoken about how they believed they had 'won the lotto' when she came forward offering to be a surrogate for their baby after years of failed attempts to conceive or adopt a child.
English couple Katie and Luke have said they paid up to £5,000 (€5,900) to Samantha Cookes in 2011 before they realised she was lying about being a surrogate mother for their child.
Cookes (36) was convicted earlier this year of welfare fraud and theft in Kerry after she was exposed by people on TikTok for using a string of aliases in Ireland over the last decade to work as an au pair and a writer.
Under the name Carrie Jade Williams, Cookes won a number of writing awards for penning a false story that she was dealing with a terminal brain disease.
Her true identity was revealed when her conviction for defrauding a couple over a fake surrogacy in England was uncovered.
A new two-part joint RTÉ/BBC documentary, Bad Nanny, has tracked Cookes' persistent lying and criminal past in England and across Ireland over the last 15 years.
Katie and Luke in a scene from 'Bad Nanny'
In 2011, she avoided a jail term after being found guilty of defrauding Katie and Luke after they turned to her as a surrogate. In her interview for the documentary, Katie said she regarded Cookes as a 'very dangerous person'.
She said she believed the fraud and deceptions perpetrated by Cookes were 'sick'.
Katie spoke about the 'hardship' she and her husband went through while trying to have a baby.
'We tried different avenues,' she said in a tearful interview.
'We'd gone down the route of adoption. We've gone down fostering. We've gone through a series of IVF treatments. It kept on failing and failing.'
The couple are pictured in the programme, but have asked that their surname not be disclosed.
Katie said they were desperate and put a notice up seeking help online. Cookes responded to say she would be willing to help
Katie said they were 'desperate' and put a notice up seeking help online. Cookes responded to say she would be willing to help.
'It was fantastic,' said Katie. 'It was almost like being on cloud nine. You won the lottery. You were finally going to get that family that you really, really wanted.'
Katie said Cookes was 'very kind, warm-hearted, delicate'. She told them she had been a surrogate for another couple and had produced a girl.
The couple agreed to pay her up to £5,000 for 'insurance' and 'other bits and pieces' she needed during the pregnancy.
However, the couple said Cookes 'started to slip up' and became evasive when they asked about their contract.
Eventually, when Katie asked to see the contract, Cookes became 'threatening'.
Her husband Luke phoned the police and it all came crashing down.
'There was no baby,' said Katie. 'And then next thing we know is she's been arrested.'
Speaking about the nine-month suspended sentence Cookes received, Luke said it was like she got off scot-free and with a slap on the wrist
Speaking about the nine-month suspended sentence Cookes received, Luke said it was like she got off 'scot-free' and with a 'slap on the wrist'.
Cookes was ordered to repay the couple £1,890 in £20-per-month instalments but the payments were 'rare'.
Luke said although Cookes told the court she had learned her lesson and that she would never do it again 'she found other avenues and different channels to go down, to defraud people'.
Katie said Cookes would keep defrauding and lying to people until 'somebody stops her completely'.
Katie and Luke have since had children. Cookes is serving a three-year sentence for defrauding €60,000 from the Irish State in welfare payments.
She has also been convicted of stealing furniture from her former landlord in Kenmare, Co Kerry.
Samantha Cookes
In 2019, she was convicted of carrying out an assessment of a child in Cork while posing as a child psychologist. Four offences of theft, three relating to a fake Lapland trip, were taken into consideration when she was given a suspended sentence.
One of the women who signed a consent form for Cookes to bring her child abroad on the non-existent Lapland trip told the documentary that she slept with a hatchet beside her bed. She was worried Cookes would attempt to abduct her child.
Alan Bradley, the director of Bad Nanny, said there was still a 'definite fear' among the many people he had interviewed about their experiences with Cookes under her various aliases.
'In many of the cases there was not a huge financial gain for her so the families question why she got involved in what were sometimes difficult situations,' he said.
'The confusion adds to the fear as to what her motivations were and what she could still do.'
'Bad Nanny', directed by Alan Bradley, debuts tonight, May 12, at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
*This article was amended on May 11, 2025, to correct the name of the husband, Luke
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